On the picket line

Lockout ends with contract for BCBS workers

The major conflict that led to a 12-week lockout of BlueCross/BlueShield workers in the Buffalo, N.Y., area was whether any of the 400 employees would lose their jobs if the company subcontracted or outsourced work. The workers, represented by the Office and Professional Employees union Local 212, won that demand on July 8, though there is a downside: It only applies to current employees. After a marathon 35-hour negotiating session, the company agreed to a 5-percent raise over the three-year contract, with a $2,500 lump-sum signing bonus, and no changes in the benefits package or working conditions. The workers will report for work on Aug. 1 after a two-week paid vacation.

Teamster reformers win ballot status

Though the recent delegated Teamster convention was heavily weighted in favor of incumbent President James P. Hoffa, reform candidates, backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union, received enough votes on June 30 to proceed to a three-way race leading to a fall referendum. Heading the TDU ticket is Sandy Pope, president of Local 805 in New York City, who signed up 50,000 rank-and-file supporters last November. Pope has 33 years of Teamster work to draw upon during the four-month campaign. “An experienced local officer with a track record of accomplishment, she ended up winning the votes of convention delegates who didn’t dare support her publicly,” reported a July 3 article posted on www.mrzine.monthlyreview.org.

Celebration of Justice for Janitors Day

Members and supporters of Service Employees Local 32BJ rallied in Washington, D.C., on June 15 to celebrate Justice for Janitors Day and continue the fight for a fair contract for area janitors. Rally organizers called the demonstration to honor the effective, ongoing efforts by janitors and cleaners, many of who are immigrants, who knew the only way they could gain respect and a better life for themselves and their families was by organizing.

“For two decades, SEIU’s Justice for Janitors movement has helped low-wage workers who clean buildings achieve social and economic justice and earn broad-based support from the public as well as religious, political and community leaders,” reports SEIU.

“With ‘One Industry, One Union, One Contract’ serving as both campaign slogan and organizing strategy, the Justice for Janitors campaign has coordinated efforts nationally and internationally to raise wages and increase basic benefits and job security for janitors,” reported the June 15 edition of Union City, the online newsletter of the Metro Washington, D.C., AFL-CIO.

Walmart workers take demands to HQ

Nearly 100 Walmart workers from around the country traveled to company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to present a workplace declaration of rights to C-level execs on June 16. The workers want the company, which is the world’s biggest billion-dollar retailer, to respect their right to raise problems on the job, improve wages and working conditions, and treat all employees with respect. A new worker-led group, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, organized the protest, according to Walmart Watch, which has dogged the anti-union, anti-worker corporation since 2005. To sign a petition supporting the OUR Walmart initiative, organized by the Food and Commercial Workers union, visit www.ufcw.org/makingchange.

Study shows jobless recovery is also ‘wageless’

Economists at Northeastern University issued a study in late June showing that workers’ wages have not improved since the so-called recovery started in June 2009. In fact, reports “The ‘Jobless and Wageless’ Recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009,” the workers actually lost money. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average real hourly earnings of all employees declined by 1.1 percent from June 2009 to May 2011. While the total national income rose to $528 billion, corporate profits accounted for $464 billion, or 88 percent, of that growth, while aggregate wages and salaries only accounted for $7 billion, or slightly more than 1 percent, when accounting for inflation.

Noting that the share of income growth going to employees was far lower than in the four other recoveries over the last three decades, the study called the $27 billion loss in workers’ income during the seven quarters since the recovery began “the first ever such decline in any post-World War II recovery.” Not only is slow growth in weekly hours a factor, but researchers pointed out that growth of worker productivity of just under 6 percent has contributed to keep employment down while hiking corporate profits. Workers have felt in their bones and their pocketbooks that they were being gouged by the capitalist ruling class, and now there are statistics to prove it. (New York Times, June 30)